Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 114

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 December 1891

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
52	6 October 1891	Peter Campbell Ada Riczygate	Peter Campbell Ada Reigate 💍 1891/2509	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 years 22 years	Oamaru Oamaru	22 years 15 years	Residence of Mrs Ann Hewson	91/3463	6 October 1891	Rev. Charles Crisp Brown, Baptist Minister
53	7 October 1891	Alfred Wheeler Elizabeth Briggs	Alfred Wheeler Elizabeth Briggs 💍 1891/2824	Widower Widow	Plumber	55 years 50 years	Oamaru Oamaru	26 years 22 years	Registrar's office, Oamaru	91/3779	7 October 1891	Registrar of Marriages, Oamaru
54	14 October 1891	James Currois Hannah Amelia Creemer	James Cairns Hannah Amelia Creemer 💍 1891/2914	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 years 19 years	Oamaru Oamaru	7 days 1 year	Residence of Mr George Walter, Oamaru	91/3470	14 October 1891	Rev. Edward C. Cecil, Congregational Minister
55	19 October 1891	Edward Richardson Susan Emma de Crew	Edward Richardson Susan Emma Le Cren 💍 1891/2515	Widower Spinster	Farmer	34 years 33 years	Allansay Oamaru	30 years 30 years	St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Oamaru	91/3468	19 October 1891	Rev. Thomas Jasper Smyth, Church of England Minister
56	20 October 1891	John McAleer Robina Hendry	John McAlwee Robina Hendry 💍 1891/2508	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	24 years 23 years	Bluecliffs Bluecliffs	15 months 15 years	St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Oamaru upper	91/3462	20 October 1891	Rev. Laurence Carsley Brady, Church of England Clergyman
57	29 October 1891	Joseph William Roberts Elizabeth Rachael Gedge	Joseph William Roberts Elizabeth Rachel Gedge 💍 1891/2507	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 years 22 years	Cauersham Wathington	10 years 9 years	Residence of Mr Daniel Gedge, Wathington	91/3461	29 October 1891	Rev. William James Williams, Wesleyan Minister
58	2 November 1891	John McNab Jane Cuthbert	John McNab Jane Cuthbert 💍 1891/2512	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	36 years 29 years	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 11 years	Residence of Mr John Cuthbert, Oamaru	91/3465	2 November 1891	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
59	12 November 1891	Henry Walter Bridge Harriet Annie Griffin	Henry Walter Bridge Harriet Annie Griffin 💍 1891/2513	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 years 26 years	Akaroa Oamaru	5 months 6 weeks	Residence of Mr George Barraud, Oamaru, Thames Street	91/3466	14 November 1891	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
60	25 November 1891	Richard Hosking Warch Ellen Roberts	Richard Hosking Ward Ellen Roberts 💍 1891/2511	Widower Spinster	Farmer Nurse	48 years 30 years	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 8 years	Baptist Church, Oamaru	91/3464	25 November 1891	Rev. Charles Crisp Brown, Baptist Minister
61	4 December 1891	Andrew Thompson Hannah Bazwell	Andrew Thompson Hannah Boswell 💍 1891/2514	Widower Spinster	Plumber Dressmaker	38 years 25 years	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 5 days	Presbyterian Manse, Oamaru	91/3467	4 December 1891	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).